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Arcia among three Twins sent to Minors

Arcia among three Twins sent to Minors

NEW YORK -- After putting a close to a disappointing first-half with a 10-4 victory over the Yankees, the Twins on Sunday decided to shuffle up their roster heading into the All-Star break.

Following the game, Minnesota optioned outfielders Oswaldo Arcia and Chris Parmelee, as well as infielder Eduardo Escobar, to Triple-A Rochester. In their place, the club recalled catcher Chris Herrmann and selected the contract of utility infielder Doug Bernier. Manager Ron Gardenhire said the team will announce the third promotion sometime before Friday's game against the Indians.

Gardenhire declined to answer when asked if the move was being delayed until after the Triple-A All-Star Game, set to be played on Wednesday. Rochester's lone position player representative in that game is Chris Colabello, who is hitting .354 with 24 home runs and 76 RBIs.

"They need to go swing, all of them do," Gardenhire said of the trio. "They're going to be a big part of our baseball team in the second half, but right now, they need to go swing."

The roster shuffle comes with Arcia mired in an 0-for-18 slump in his last four games. The 22-year-old has also struck out in 11 of his last 13 at-bats. Parmelee, too, has been scuffling at the plate, recording just one hit in his last 22 at-bats, lowering his season average to .223. As for Escobar, the infielder recently snapped out of an 0-for-16 slump with a two-hit performance Wednesday against the Rays, but is hitting just .214 on the year.

Gardenhire did not offer a timetable on how long any of the demotions might last, instead stressing the importance of each player finding his swing in the Minors.

"The most important of this whole deal is -- yes, we're shaking things up -- but the most important part is to get these kids right, because they're our future," Gardenhire said. "This is what we're counting on. We have plans for these guys to be a part of it and they need to be right. Right now, they're struggling."

Paul Casella is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @paul_casella. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.